Tuesday, November 18, 2014

You'd be forgiven for thinking it was a homeless person's hut at first glance. But its size, and a quick scan of the banners hanging all over it, mark it as something a little different.

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Tent Hiroba, just across from the heart of Japan's economic control center

Tent Hiroba (Tent Plaza, or Tent Square) is a patch of sidewalk just across from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) headquarters in the political heart of Tokyo, the Nagatacho district.

Tento Hiroba is a project by those opposed to reviving nuclear power generation in Japan, and those who remain affected by the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster that happened in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Insofar as it represents those displaced by the Fukushima disaster, Tento Hiroba can be called a "homeless persons' hut."

Tento Hiroba was set up on September 11, 2011, six months after the day of the earthquake, as the final act in a human chain protest encircling METI. It has remained occupied by volunteers 24/7 ever since that time, providing an ongoing, constant platform for voices throughout Japan raised in protest against the resumption of nuclear powered electricity generation.